Obama leaves Israel after first official visit

Friday, March 22, 2013 - 00:54

March 22 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres saw U.S. President Barack Obama off after a several day trip to assure Israel of the U.S.'s support. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
U.S. President Barack Obama held a final round of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday (March 22) before flying to Jordan to discuss with King Abdullah an array of problems, including Syria and stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace moves.
Obama has reiterated to Netanyahu that settlement building in the West Bank, land the Palestinians want as part of a future state, was detrimental to peace efforts. But he retreated from the overt calls during his first term for a halt to the building and he has offered no new peace initiative during his trip, saying he had just come to listen.
In Israel, Obama has tried to win over a skeptical public, assuring them of full U.S. support at a time of growing tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and anxiety over the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: